Improvement in carriage for children



Childrens Carriage. NO. 64,082. Patented Apr. 23, 1867.

Witnesses= Inventor,

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IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGE FOR CHILDREN.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER DICK, of Buffalo, in the county of Erie, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Carriages; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being bad to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure I a top plan view of a carriage for children, made according to my plan;

Figure II is a longitudinal section; and.

Figure III a rear end elevation.

The nature of my invention consists in four things: first, a carriage body of special adaptation, that is light and fairy in. appearance; second, a pivoted seat, by which the. occupant mayrecliue in an easy position: third, springs that are yielding vertically and laterally; and fourth, a wheel of great strength.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Though the wheels and axle may be made in any of the known forms, I prefer to make the spokes twofold at the hub, radiating from the inner and outer periphery thereof and meeting at or near the perimeter of the wheel. The wheels may be made entirely of iron, or the hubs may be of wood; when all of iron the spokes may be cast into the hub. The carriage body I make of iron wire, audits general form is that shown by the half of an egg when divided longitudinally, the larger end being the rear part, which part has an addition which rises upward and turns outwardlyiri the rear and on the sides, as shown in the figures. To make a wire frame of this form, take a wire of suflicieut strength and bend it to the shape required for the upper edge of the carriage body; this will be an irregular and elongated hoop, as shown by r; a a, Fig. I. Take another wire; this may be bent double, and form it to the shnperequired for a keel, E E, Fig. II. I call this a keel because it corresponds to the keel of a vessel. This keel is fastened securely at right angles to the two ends of the hoop a a a, Fig. I. .Then

lay in other wire hoops at proper intervals, as ff, 9 g, h 71., 2'2, Fig. I, in such manner as to give the desired form to the carriage body. These hoops are secured and stayed by wires running transversely to them wherever needed. One of these stay wires should pass round near the middle of the carriage, as u u. The ends of this wire may come up above the upper hoop a a, and form attachments for 'the carriage top, as seen at z 2, Figs. II and III. On each side, at the proper elevation, let this wire have eyes, formed bybending it round, which will be suitable bearings for the seat pivotspp, Figs. I and III. The seat C B, Fig. I, I also make of wire, in manner shown in the figures; it is pivoted at each end near the front edge, as shown at 1) and has a movable'suppurt, t, Fig. II, under the back part. This support t is a wire fastened and hinged at its upper end to the wire-that passes round the rear of the seat, as shown at V, Fig. II. The lower end of the support it is so formed as to rest securely on a bearer, which maybe-the transverse stay wircu a. It also at this point passes through an eye, 0, Fig. II, which keeps it in place. Now, to lower the rear part of the seat, allthat is necessary is to raise the lower end of the support it from its socket, it will then slide down through the cycle, and theseat C B, turning on the pivots 1711, comes to the position indicated by the dotted red lines, Fig. II. In this position the back of the seat falls into the curvature of the rear end of the carriage body which rises some distance above it. This part of the carriage body which rises above the sea-t in its lowered position should be cushioned, also the seat should becushioned, and the entire carriage body lined with patent leather or other material, according to taste. For obvious reasons these cushions and linings are not shown in the figures, nor yet the top, which 'of course may be of any common and known kind. It ought, however, to be very light, in order to correspond with thecarriuge body. This arrangement of pivoted seat and postjacent cushion is for the purpose of giving an easy position to .the occupant whenever desired. This is done by bringing the seat 0 B to its lowered position, as already described; the occupant is thus brought'to a reclining position, with the head and shoulders resting on the'cushion in the rear. To resuine the sitting posture it is only necessary to raise the back of the seat to the proper point, for by so doing the support is drawn up through the eye 0 until its foot settles on itsrbearing by its own weight or by the action of a spring.

It now remains to describe the manner of attaching the carriage body to the running part and the springs: I describe the two-wheeled carriage, as shown in the figures. Those skilled in the art can readily make the neces= sary modifications for earrio'ges with four wheels, or, for children and invalids, with three I take a band of iron of proper weight, the length being somewhat more than the keel E E. I attach one end-of it firmly at right angles to the centre part of the axle. This band may be substituted by wires'attached at or near the centre. In childrens carriages, as represented, at a distance from the axle a little less than the length of the carriage body, I attach a foot support to this band in the usual way, as @Fig. II, and in front of this foot I bend the strap or band upward, giving it the shape of the front end of thecarriage body, and the end from the height of the carriage body is bent downward again to nearly a horizontal position and a handle attached. The band or stretcher thus formed and placed is represented by W W, Fig-II. I now attach the carriage body to this stretcher by means of a fixed eye and hook at 3 Fig. II, a socket to receive the stretcher at S, and binding the keel to the stretcher at is, Fig. II, with wire or a leather strap. The keel of the carriage body thus rests securely upon the springy stretcher lrV W. But I stay the carriage body further by means of the springs DD. These springs are semicircular in form and made of spring-wire. Their position is shown by the figures, their lower ends being secured to the axle at m m, Fig. III, and their upper ends securedin sockets attached to each side of the carriage body at n n. This combination of springs secures very great ease to the action of the carriage when in motion. It is obvious that in buggies and other light carriages the hereindescribed stretcher, or reach, should be attached to the axle of the front wheels, when shaftsi may be arranged in any approved manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, is-- 1. A carriage body framed and constructed of wire, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a carriage, a seat made adjustable, substantially as described.

3. The arrangement in a earriage of the springs lV W and D D, substantially as described.

ALEXANDER DICK.

Witnesses:

R. G. PLATT, ROBERT DIoK. 

